Regular Season is back

The NBA made it's official return this week on Tuesday. I have to say that this season has already started off pretty exciting. Star players on their new teams made their official debut. Gordan Hayward returned from a stunning injury that occurred last year. We also got to see many interesting matches, where interesting incidents and highlights occurred. The Warriors kicked off the season in a close game win against the Oklahoma City Thunder, without star player Russel Westbrook. The Hornet's point guard Kemba Walker dropped 41 points against the Bucks, even though the Hornets still ended up losing including a missed game-winning shot by Kemba Walker. Sixer's star player Ben Simmons already dropped a triple-double against the Bulls. Kemba Walker, Ish Smith, and JJ Reddick hit big game-winning shots this week. Many interesting events occurred this week. However, the incident that everyone is probably talking about the most is the Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo fight during a matchup between the Lakers and the Rockets. 

The brawl was initiated after a hard foul on James Harden from Brandon Ingram. Ingram then gave a hard shove to Harden out of frustration. Ingram then got into a ref's face out of more frustration. There was already a little bit of tension already. Just when everyone thought it couldn't get any worse, Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo begin to get in each other's faces. Rondo then spits in his face, Paul then puts a finger in Rondo's face, afterwards Rondo throws a big punch, then Paul throws a punch. Brandon Ingram joins and starts to help Rondo throw more punches at Paul. Punches were continuously getting thrown until the fight was broken off. I would have to say that it was one of the first intense NBA fights we have had in a while, considering the fact that the NBA rules have gotten softer after the "Malice at the Palace". Afterwards, Brandon Ingram was suspended for 4 games, Rajan Rondo got suspended for 3, And Chris Paul got suspended for 2. This fight was discussed for the rest of the weekend, even memes were being posted about the fight:).

On the lighter note, my favorite team, the Los Angeles Clippers are not doing as bad as I thought they were going to do this year. They are currently 2-1 and they were able to close out hard fought games. I still believe we need our guards to put more work in.

The Malice at the Palace

Described as the worst night in the NBA, the night of Malice at the Palace took a toll on the league. This night was one of the more unforgettable moments, and also a very important one as well. On this fateful night, November 19, 2004, a huge brawl took place between the Detroit Pistons and the Indiana Pacers. This took place in the Palace of Auburn Hills, Michigan - the Detroit Pistons home court.

The game played out like any other typical NBA game. No one tried anything and no harm and threat between the two teams were showed. However, towards the final minute of the game, the brawl began with 45.9 seconds remaining in the game. Pistons center Ben Wallace was fouled from behind by Pacers small forward Ron Artest. The foul was as is because Wallace was slapped across the back of the head during a layup attempt. Wallace has later warned Artest that he would be hit. Wallace took everything the wrong way and shoved Artest with both hands. This caused players from both teams to get in between the two as quickly as possible.

All of a sudden, tension occurred. As everyone was trying to clear off heat from the fight, Artest just laid on the scorer's table. It was at this moment when one of the fans threw a cup with liquid in it at Artest. Tension grew even stronger as Artest proceeded to go after whoever threw the cup. He entered the stands where all the fans were and went to go beat up the fan. He went after the wrong person. After fans grew a bunch of tension and considering a player from the opposing team was going after a fan of the Detroit Pistons, many other fans added to the tension and went after Artest. all of a sudden a big brawl between players and fans began. More and more of the security, staff, and players entered the stands to try their absolute hardest to end the madness. Fans were the ones who grew the angriest. Punch after punch, fighting proceeded and escalated.

As they were giving all effort to get the players out of the stands, the fans only grew even wilder. As players were barely starting to walk off the court, the fans began to throw food, drinks, and maybe even glass. Security had to cover the heads of the players as they made their way back to the locker room. It was described as the scariest night in NBA history. Many have said that no matter how bad it looked on TV, it was 20x worse in person. The league then had to make many rule changes for safety purposes, specifically to avoid traumatizing nights like this. This was a turning point where the NBA got softer in my opinion. One thing is for certain, Mallace at the Palace was a very eventful and historical moment.

The Game that shaped the future of the NBA

The title of this week's blog post is not an exaggeration. This particular game provided the league's roots and the league would simply not be how it is now without this one game. This goes way back to 1964, back in a time where the NBA was a lot different than it is now.



The league had only 9 teams, Basketball itself was not very popular, and players were treated like garbage. Even though the players created a union to represent themselves, the owners ignored each and every one of their requests. Teams did not have full-time trainers, the league forced players to play extreme back to back games, for example, a Friday night game, then a Saturday afternoon game right after, and players were simply not getting paid enough. Players' voices were not being heard. This situation was so serious that there would be meetings and the NBA commissioner would not think that players are worthy enough to come into his office. The players decided that enough is enough and something had to be done. This brings us to the 1964 NBA All-Star game, which would be one of the most important moments in NBA history. Players were so fed up at this point, so they began to discuss with each other in the weeks leading up to the game, and made the decision that if the owners did not give in to their demands, they were not going to play in the all-star game. They were basically going to strike. Players showed up to the game and told them that if owners don't treat them in the proper way, they will not play, and told the owners to go out on the court and tell the audience why there would be no game. This was a risky move from the players, considering the owners had so much power over the players. Owners could have cut any players involved in the strike.

Jerry West stated "The players were controlled by the owners" "All of us felt like we were slaves in the sense we had no rights" "It was the stone ages of basketball". He was right. Players were not even getting paid enough, especially in the conditions that they were forced to play in. In the locker room during the all-star game, 20 players took a vote on what to do, and 11 players stated that they did not want to play unless they were given proper rights. Owners lost their minds, considering this was not just any normal all-star game, but the first all-star game that would be televised. To not have a game would be an absolute catastrophe. Owners would tell many players, "if you aren't going to play in this game, you will probably never play again". The energy in locker room changes as they began to tell each other to go f*ck themselves. Threats were made. The owners finally realized after a while that the players were not playing around. As it became closer and closer to the game, it was the owners who were now panicking. Not having an all-star game would deal a horrible blow to the sport of basketball. Finally, the owners came back into the locker room and caved into every single one of the players' demands. They'd have a pension system in place, they'd have full-time trainers, they wouldn't be forced to play extreme back to back games, and perhaps most importantly, the player association would have a real voice and bargaining power in discussions. On this fateful day of the 1964 All-star game, all the seeds for everything that the league has become were planted.

      

The NBA Preseason is here!

Half of the wait is over because the NBA preseason is here. We are 1 step closer to the NBA regular season to begin! The preseason allows teams to get back into shape, and into grind time mentality, in other words, players are trying to get back into the game. The preseason began on Friday, 9/28. Many star players made their debut for their new teams. Kawhi Leanard debuted on the Raptors, Demar Derozen debuted on the Spurs, and of course, Lebron James debuted on the Lakers. 

Coolest Monkey in the Jungle (Lebron James)

My Uncle (Demar Derozen)

That one quiet kid in class (Kawhi Leanard)

Gordan Hayward

Gordan Hayward from the Boston Celtics has finally returned from a huge broken leg injury, which occurred last year. Demarcus Cousins from the Warriors did not play due to injury, and will apparently not be returning for the preseason. Although several teams are still yet to play their first game in the preseason. Many notable players had low scoring games and many notable teams lost to terrible teams. This is no surprise because it is only the preseason, but many fans, including me, have predictions for the upcoming regular season already. I personally believe that a lot of teams need to build up chemistry with their new additions in order to win games. There has been other interesting news from the past week. Star Player Jimmy Butler from the Minnesota Timberwolves has stated that he wants to get traded from the team. 

Jimmy Butler

One of the teams he wants to head to is the Los Angeles Clippers, which is my favorite team. I am not sure how I feel about this. I do not know whether Butler is worth giving up cap space for. I wouldn't mind having him on the team. There has also been news about the Cleveland Cavalier's player J.R Smith being notified that a tattoo on his leg will get him fined every game if he does not cover it up before the season. 

JR Smith

He seemed to be very angry about this. The tattoo apparently violates a law because his tattoo shows a Supreme Logo. It violates an NBA law because the league prohibits players from displaying any commercial logos or corporate insignia on their body or their hair. Smith has been voicing his concern and will talk to the league about this. I personally do not think the NBA will budge so he will have to cover the tattoo up. All in all, I am very excited and hyped for what this upcoming NBA season has to offer, and the preseason is just a supplement that helps remedy my impatience and anxiety for the regular season to start.

Incredible Stories of 2 Asian NBA Players

In all honesty, with the help of racism, Asain people are not and were never known as the most athletic or superstar players in the NBA. In the league, there are 0.2% of Asians. As an Asian my self, I am appalled. This also applies to all professional sports as well. Asain people are more recognized as intelligent beings coming from the hardest college, most likely to become a doctor. That is the harsh reality for Asians. However, there are 2 specific Asain NBA players that have proved society wrong, showing that they are worth it in the league. Each has played in different eras if the NBA, one of them being the Hall of Famer Yao Ming. The second one is currently in the league, but not as great as he once was in his glory days, Jeremy Lin. Each of them has a fascinating story and they both have represented Asians in the NBA for a very long time.

Yao Ming

Jeremey Lin

Starting off with Jeremy Lin's story. Jeremy has fought through the cultural biases throughout his basketball career. This has caused him to struggle to prove himself worthy on the court, even in college (Harvard). He was overlooked because he was Asian. It made no sense how he was not given a fair chance considering the fact that he carried his High School, Palo Alto into a 31-1 record, bringing them into the state finals, going up against Mater Dei. It was there when he brought the team to victory. Jeremey then became a NorCal Division II player of the year. Despite all this, he was still not offered a scholarship by any Division 1 college. He was given the opportunity to play for Harvard. There he showed off his talent, with a notable performance of 30 points against the Uconn Huskies, where future all-star Kemba Walker played.

Palo Alta vs Mater Dei (2006)

         Lin at Harvard University

After college, he came into the NBA summer league undrafted, eventually receiving a contract from the Golden State Warriors. This made him the first Chinese-American player to ever make it to the NBA. He was then sent into the D-League because he appeared overmatched. His career in the NBA got off to a rocky start. After given the 2nd Chance he was then cut from the Houston Rockets. This was the worst fit for him because as a point guard, he was on a team with 6 point guard already. Finally, the New York Knicks saw potential in him, so they picked him. New York is where the turning point in  Lin's career occurred. He reached an era in his career, which people liked to call, Linsanity. He started off in New York as a bench warmer, only playing when the stars got hurt. One game, when the Knicks faced off against the New Jersey Nets, he was given possibly his last chance to show that he deserves way more recognition and proving cultural biases wrong. With a do or die attitude, he went all out. Finally, he showed to the world that Asians have also got what it takes as well. He remembers crying in the shower afterward. Thus, his Linsanity phase was born as he continued to go off. He continued to go through hate and discrimination, but he also continued to show he could not be stopped as well.

This next story is what I find to be the most interesting one. This next one is about Chinese Hall of Famer, Yao Ming. The basis of this story is his height, standing at 7'6, he was always well-known for his insane height in the league. The truth is, he probably was not supposed to be this tall or this talented. In the 1950's, the Chinese government wanted to be great and powerful in all of the sports.





They craved dominance in all of the sports, and one of their strengths and notable sports happened to be basketball. Their needs of dominance may not have been so forgiving and nice. That is because they did not fool around. They kept the mentality that they must do absolutely whatever it takes to be dominant, no matter how unforgiving. They took their strategies to the extreme as they scouted the nation for young children that had any potential. They would then force any liked child to leave their home and dedicate their life to the sport that China chose for them. This is already beyond messed up\. Even after Chinese athletes' professional careers were over, they were still forced to dedicate their lives to the sport and get their marriages approved by the government, in order to produce babies who would then be able to play a sport and so on. Moving on to Yao Ming himself. He was born as a very big baby. Right away China so the potential in him due to his height. They followed his childhood every step. Right away, he was of course forced to dedicate his life to basketball. He and his parents did not want this, as his parents wanted him to go to school full time and Yao wanted to be an archeologist when he grew up. Sadly China does give a damn. When players for a sport were gathered, they were put through hell during training and practices. They were tortured and to keep going until they could not breathe. Practices practically lasted the whole day. Players would often collapse on the floor. Players would often get beaten up when they make mistakes and even if a player is sick, they did not care. This created Yao into a superior basketball player despite hating the sport.



He continued to grow and develop as an athlete. China wanted Yao to grow even taller so they made drinks for him to take. Yao was put through basketball hell throughout his entire life. Thus, I believe that China created Yao Ming.

These stories are quite fascinating in their own way and definitely put Asian players up there, whether from struggles with biases to the Chinese government.

The Los Angeles Clippers are a disgrace to the NBA!

Clippers' trash cans...... because they're TRASH

The NBA pre-season begins in 2 weeks. We will finally get to see how each team with their new additions play out. This does not mean I will focus and anticipate on the upcoming season. In reality, there are many other things basketball related that I can talk about on this blog, with or without the current season. This week, I wanted to embrace how bad my favorite team is, so that is what I will be talking about. Many NBA fanatics, including me, believe that the Los Angeles Clippers are indeed cursed. They are not only the most cursed team in the NBA, there may be the most cursed team in all of the professional sports, never winning even one championship title.

For many years, the Clippers have been the laughing stock of this league. From missing opportunities on star players to being the only team that has never made it past the 2nd round of the playoffs, the Clippers are cursed. Let's take this back to the early history of the team, even before the Clippers were in Los Angeles. This is the era where the franchise has traded away future stars they have had and also have missed out on many opportunities at drafting all-star players. When the Clippers were in New York, Buffalo, the team had a future all-star player at the time, Moses Malone. The Clippers missed a big one here, by not giving Malone a lot of playing time. As a result, Moses requested to get traded off the team,. Afterward, he began to shine on Rockets. From then on after leaving the Clippers, he would soon become a 3x MVP. Later on, the Clippers traded the face of their team, Bob Mcadoo, who has already won an MVP. After being traded, he was an overall 5x All-Star and a future Hall of Famer. They gave up 2 big names and ended up receiving bum players in return. Throughout many years, they would go on to trading away 3 Hall of Famers and missed out on drafting 1 Hall of Famer. They would continue to miss out on star players, like when they traded away Hall of Famer, Bill Walton. In the recent years or modern era of the NBA, the Clippers franchise is not any different. This is the time period where the team began to blow winning opportunities. In 2014, the Clippers made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs, the most they have ever made it to. They were up against the Oklahoma City Thunder. In game 5, they had a chance to take the lead in the series, making it 3-2, only needing one more win to advance after that. In the game, the Clippers were ahead by 7 in the final minutes, but of course, they blew the lead, allowing the Thunder to take control and later on win the series. In 2015, the Clippers once again were in the 2nd round, after defeating the Spurs in the first. They were put up against the Houston Rockets. In this series, the Clippers were actually ahead, 3-1, only needing one more win the advance. But the Clippers somehow found a way to give up the lead, allowing the Houston Rockets to a make an amazing comeback. I was personally devastated while watching that happen. The team was so close to advancing to the Conference Final for the first time in history. The team has a long and bad history of giving up great oppurtunites. Everything happens for a resason, but at this point i dont even know what is going. However I still stay as a loyal fan to the team and I have faith that one day, the glory will be ours. GO CLIPPERS!

The Virtual NBA (My experience with the release)

As the NBA pre-season is just around the corner, beginning in about 3 weeks, and as the offseason trade drama is coming to a close, there is obviously nothing much with the NBA I can talk about right now.......or is there? There may be nothing in the real NBA world that I am interested in as of right now, but this week, the 20th video game in the NBA 2k franchise has released, specifically the 20th Anniversary edition. The Standard Edition comes out 4 days after. The NBA 2k Franchise consists of a series of basketball video games that release every year, basically simulating the NBA in a video game with a variety of game modes. The series kicked off back in 1999 with "NBA 2k".

First NBA 2K game (1999)

From then on, the franchise continued to grow.  Many NBA fans and fans of the franchise have anticipated this year's special edition mainly because it is the 20th Anniversary of the franchise.

20th Anniversary Edition

Many fans, including most of my friends, have pre-ordered this copy of the game, however, this leaves me feeling left out because I didn't pre-order this version. For a few weeks, I have been contemplating whether I should get the 20th Anniversary Edition, which costs $100, or the standard edition, which costs $60.

Standard Edition

These NBA 2K games release every year, similar to how there's a new NBA season every year.  Throughout the recent years, I have never had a hard time deciding which edition to order, because I always picked up the standard edition along with all my friends because we don't want to spend $100 on a game that may not even be worth the price. I would always pre-order the game around a month or 2, prior to the early release date for a pre-ordered copy. However, this year was a more stressful decision to make. Almost everyone I know ordered the 20th Anniversary Edition, except for me. So I ended up frustrated and confused about which edition I should pre-order last minute. I have never pre-ordered an NBA 2K game so late in my life. This decision left me with so much stress. It came down to one of those situations where there are good pros and cons for each choice. If I got the 20th Anniversary Edition, I would receive a ton of more content to enjoy, including physical content as well. All of the best content was exclusive to the special edition. Another good part about picking this version is the fact that I would get to play the game 4 days earlier. Usually, if you pre-order the game in general, even the standard edition, you get to pick the game up 4 days earlier. However this year, only the special edition is available 4 days prior to the initial release date. This is something I don't get at all. I feel like it would be a much easier decision for me if the standard editions released early as well because I am also a very impatient person when it comes to situations like these. If I get the standard edition, then I save $40 and I can say that I was wise with my money. That's pretty much it, but money is a big deal. When they say the struggle is real, they mean it. I had better things to be stressed about, such as my presentation that I had to practice for. Although there are differences between the 2 versions, it is still the same game at the same time, which makes me feel a whole lot better. On the final day that both games were available to pre-order, I finally went to GameStop, still making 2nd thoughts, but most likely getting the standard edition. I walk up to the register, wondering if the 20th Anniversary Edition was still available to order (it was the night of the Special edition pick up), the worker said they were all sold out of the special edition copies, reminding me that I have never ordered a 2K game this late in my life. It did make me feel a bit better as well, knowing there was no other choice I had afterward then just pick up the standard edition, which will be available for pickup 4 days later. So I ordered the standard edition, and I was finally all set. Regardless of the confusion, I am still very excited to pick up the new NBA 2K game this Tuesday. Personally, I think it is very convenient for the NBA 2K game to release every year, a few weeks before the actual NBA season starts. It keeps impatient people like me, calm and not dying for the NBA season to start as much. It keeps me occupied. I hope my experience with this year's NBA 2K game is a great one, just like every year.